ZX Appeal

MAY/89

Vancouver sinclair
users SFOUuUP

ZXAppeal is a monthly
newsletter put out by the
Vancouver Sinclair Users Group.
For more information on the
group and ZXAppeal see the backcover.

7X80 with RAM PA

POR SALA Losa 2
MINUTES cucnocciianiacase 3
TIME DESIGNS.........o..o....»o a

PROGRAMMING AIDS...5
HARDWARE PROJECT....8
2068 PROIMEPTIL 0 ciocióónnoso 10

THIS*ISSUE........

Hooray, Hooray, 1st of May, outdoor computin'
Starts today!!

Just a couple of club submissions this month but
they come from esteemed members: Fred N. is
back with Project #2 from the "ZX Breadboarder";
and we are pleased to receive a submission from
Kristian Boisvert. Kristian together with his
brother Eric are the creative minds behind "Byte
Power". And now for something completely
different we reprint in this issue an article not
directly related to Sinclair machines but certainly
of interest (and maybe humourous) to any
die-hard programmer. You might think you
aren't in this catagory but if you can recall sitting
at your machine and suddenly realizing it was two
in the morning then think again. Part Two of the
neat 2068 program is continued from last time. If
space allows we'll also reprint one or two other
"gems" from the exchange file. We also reprint a
letter received from Tim Woods of Time Designs.
I'm glad to hear that Tim has bounced back and
plans to stay with it for a while yet. Nice to hear

from you, Tim.
EEE EEE EEE EEE EEE EEE EEE EEE EE EERE EE EERE EERE

...meeting date!

FOR SALE:
Dave Mumtford has a
bunch of Timex gear for sale.

Software, hardware, etc.
call him at
434-9757

*“BUYER BE WARE***

We find it difficult to report the following but
must do so in fairness to the Sinclair Community.
VSUG member Jim Horne set up shop as
Insomniac Electronics and sent out notices that he
would be taking over from Fred N.'s Silicon
Mountain Electronics after Fred closed down.
Disturbing reports are now starting to trickle in
from VSUG members as well as other TS users
across Canada and the U.S. saying that Jim had
been sent orders and money but nothing had been
received in return. Many attempts have been
made to contact Jim regarding this and other
matters but to date no success. The Vancouver
Sinclair Users Group does not recommend
anyone ordering anything from Insomniac
Electronics until contact is made with Jim to find
out what is going on. VSUG will try to mediate
with Jim about unfilled orders but of course isn't
connected with Insomniac Electronics and can't
take any responsibility for Jim's lack of

performance.
FEE EEE a EE EE EEE EEE

MINUTES OF APRIL MEETING

(Our Humble Scribe was not able to
make the meeting so the interesting
bits were noted by Chung Chow and
typed up by Gerd, the Prez,
Breunung...Ed)

The meeting started with 13 and ended
with 16 members present.

Rusty Townsend volunteered to be our
new Newsletter Publisher.
Ken Abramson told us
discussions on "Cold Fusion" on the
Simon Fraser University bulletin
board. Professors and teachers from
all over North America are taking
part and Ken, who has access because
he is a science teacher, circulated
several printouts of text from the
bulletin board.
The meeting was
7:36pm.

Editor's Report:
-mention was made of
submitted by Fred N.
-pages 2 and 3 ot
newsletter were done with
desktop publishing program
2068.

Treasurer's Report:
-$1,234.91 in the club kitty!
-it was decided by majority
purchase a disk drive system
TS1000 Library from Jim Horne.
President's Report:

-Vashon Island Sinclair Timex
Association's TS1000 Public Domain
Software Library Index is available.
They are doing a first class job of
filling up a top quality C60 with
programs on both sides for a nominal
fee of US$4.00 (Gerd sent them 5 to
cover the extra postage to Canada).
Program submissions to the library
are invited. Contact Gerd for
details.

-a working

about

called to order at

the article

the
the
for

last
new
the

vote to
for the

prototype of a
tape-to-tape software dubbing device
was received from Fred N. and shown
to the meeting. (The article about
this device will be in the next issue
of the newsletter. ..Ed)

IN RECOGNITION OF THE OVERWHELMING
GENEROSITY SHOWN TO VSUG BY FRED IT
WAS UNANIMOUSLY DECIDED BY ALL
PRESENT THAT AS A TOKEN OF GRATITUDE
AND APPRECIATION FRED NACHBAUR BE
MADE A LIFETIME CLUB MEMBER.

Hardware Group Report:

- a social farewell party was held
for Eric Sakara who has accepted a
transfer to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
TS1000 Book Library Report:

-see Mar/Apr ‘89 issue of your
newsletter for complete listing.
Phone or write Gerd for your book
borrowing needs. Mail requests to

borrow from the library accepted from
out-of-towners.

TS1000 Tape Library Report:

-soon to be catalogued same as TS1000
book library.

-Rusty Townsend contributed 5
original programs which are new to
the library - thank you, Rusty!

TS2068 Book & Tape Library Report (by
Rod as Bill not able to attend):
-60 books and 90 programs
available.

Vice President's Report:

are

-received more printouts from Harvey
Taylor from the ongoing SE Ue
bulletin board discussion on "Cold
Fusion".

-participation in Group Tour of
TRIUMF (Tri University Meson
Facility) at the University of BG.
invited.

Harry Slot demonstrated 2 Telegraph
Printers: one "hole-punch". type dated
1865 made by the Morse Company and
one later model ink-type. They were
used around the late 1800's in a New
York City Police Precinct before
being brought to Vancouver. Harry
told us that years ago he hooked it
up to the antique radio demonstrated
here a while back and was able to
print out weather reports being
transmitted in morse code to the far
north.

| | |

ES

29722 Hult Road Colton, Oregon 97017 Phdne (503) 824-2658

. Dear TIME DESIGNS Subscriber,

Your still very much on our mailing list. The mailman didn't steal
your magazines, and our computer didn't "accidentally" erase your name.
We haven't forgotten you.

I've really slipped behind on our publishing schedule the last
couple of issues, for which I apologize. Several family matters,
including the sudden passing away of my father, and health problems,
forced me to take substantial “time off" from my duties here at TDM.

TIME DESIGNS has always been my hobby...something I do on the side
(I also hold down a full time job besides the magazine). I still feel
that it is a worthwhile project, and a necessary information link for our
Timex Sinclair community.

On that note, I want to emphasize, that we have not gone out of
business, nor do we have plans to. You will get every issue you have paid
for.

The last few weeks, and in the months ahead, I will be con-
centrating on getting our magazine back on track and to better serve you.
There has been, literally, an avalanche of letters, postcards, and phone
calls inquiring about TDM and magazine delivery. We have tried to answer
each in the order we have received them. Therefore, if it appears like we
have ignored you...we have not! We have just been overwhelmed.

: I have enacted just a couple of minor changes to help.us catch up.
The upcoming issues (for the time being) will be designated by Volume and
Issue Number, rather than a bi-monthly designation. A fuller explanation
and more details will be included in my next editorial.

Within just a couple of weeks after you receive this issue, you will
be receiving another issue of TIME DESIGNS (Vol.5 No.1), which is ready
for mailing. We will also be expediting the production of the following
issue (Vol.5 No.2). :

Your patience and continued support has been greatly appreciated.
Without you, there would not be a TIMEX SINCLAIR magazine. In return for
your understanding of my tardiness, I will continue to put out a quality
magazine like you've come to expect. My files are really bursting with
articles and programs...look for some good information for your
favorite microcomputer.

Respectfully Yours,
Tim Woods

Editor/Publisher
TIME DESIGNS

“PRODUCT WRAP-UP
Ted Bahr

Caffeinated soft drinks:
The state of the art

= to
COC eee emer cecccccrcccccrcccrcccec eee rro rro rr rro rr rocoso co 0 0

POrr0rrrrrrmmomcroosrrrrrcsscrrrrrrrrrncnnrcnpscsrrsrnrsss.o

Porro rr rrrorcoeoorrrsosooros

Perhaps the most universal ly rec-
ognized tool for improving a pro-
fessional programmer's productiv-

- ity is C. Not the C language (after
all, this ¿s the April issue, not Feb-
ruary) but the C additive, Caffeine.

PJ. Plauger would have us begin

this review with a definition:

cafefeine \ka-'fen, *ka-,\ # [G kaffein,
fr. kaffee coffee, fr. F cafe ] (ca. 1828): a
bitter alkaloid Cs H, N, O, found esp.
in coffee, tea, and kola nuts and used
medicinally as a stimulant and diuretic.

Much has happened in the Cola
wars to date, and the intent here is
to bring you up to speed on what
seven leading contenders have to
offer today. Table 1 shows a com-
parison of basic features, Table 2
compares performance, and Table
3 ranks the products on a variety of
tests.

Diet Coke
Diet Coke is an ably launched se-
quel to Coca-Cola’s well-known,
high-calorie drinks. It scours well
in the mouth and the taste is sur-
prisingly full-bodied for a soda
drained of all sugar. As a member
of the Coke family, Diet Coke
places well in the performance test
with 46 mg. of caffeine per can.
Diet Coke supplies the user with
excellent documentation, taking
care to list a variety of vitamins
and minerals of which it supplies
less than 2% of the U.S Daily Rec-

ommended Allowances (U.S.
RDA). The documentation is not
perfect, however; one particular
problem is sloppy indexing. Diet
Coke notes that the product con-
tains phenylalanine, a danger to
phenylketoneurics, but does so in
tiny letters on the front of the can,
not with the ingredients where one
would naturally search for it (by
contrast, Diet Pepsi places this in-
formation with the other ingredi-
ents in a bright red color).

A toll-free help line is provided
to support all the Coke pro-
ducts—their commercials play in
the background while you are on
hold. Diet Coke is an excellent re-
production of the market leader
and maintains its good perfor-
mance for programmers while
nodding to the increased health-
consciousness of the world today.
Mountain Dew
Long the late-night programmer’s
favorite with 17.4% more caffeine
than any member of the Coke fam-
ily and over 40% more caffeine
than Pepsi, Mountain Dew means
business. Clearly the heavyweight
choice of this review, The Dew
powers its way to a first-place fin-
ish in both calories (178.8) and su-
gar (44.4 mg;). Its performance
pales in comparison only to Jolt.

Mountain Dew's taste is sickly
sweet—the refreshing images of
people splashing around in ponds
are clearly in reference to the ener-

gy derived fron the drink’s effect,
not the taste. And the participants
in the ads are certainly not pro-
grammers (imagine —swimming)).
The scouring test was disappoint-
ing—the tiny bubbles seemed
buried by high-fructose corn syrup.

Documentation was generally
good, with more information re-
vealed about chemical content
than any product except Diet Coke.
A toll-free help number is offered
on the can and questions to the
technical support staff were han-
dled efficiently and pleasantly.

Mountain Dew is still sporting .
its peace-and-love 1960s logo. The
outdated packaging combined with
levels of caffeine and sugar that
show almost total disregard for the
1980s health-consciousness reveal
parent Pepsico’s intent to market
Mountain Dew as a niche product.
With only Jolt to battle head-to-
head on the high end, that’s not
such a bad idea.

Pepsi may be the choice of a new
generation, but definitely not a new
generation of programmers. Fin-
ishing dead last in performance
and buried in the middle of the
pack with respect to calories, Pepsi
is a generally uninspired product.
The user interface (taste) is distinc-
tive, but its caffeine engine lacks
the punch of the other products we
surveyed.

Pepsi offers a toll-free help line 5

Arrrrrrrrrroeeprsorrpncrrssn osea...

« CAFFEINATED SOFT DRINKS =+-

definitely qualifying as a “bou-
tique” soft drink, Dr. Pepper’s
unique user interface qualified it
for review. Bottled by Pepsi, Dr.
Pepper has had little national ad-
vertising in the past few years, be-
ing seen as a perennial big seller in
Texas and a fancy alternative to
root beer.

Despite this, Dr. P weighs in as a
reasonable choice for program-
mers. The taste is somewhat le-
mony, light, and fruity. Documen-
tation is good, but Dr. P lacks a
toll-free number for support. When
I did call technical support, the
Pepper People seemed confused. I
bounced seven times before find-
ing the right person at the right
number. However, once I got
there, support was excellent and
very cordial.

Although Dr. Pepper cannot be
recommended outright due to its
mediocre performance, slipping a
few in between a long night of
Classic Cokes may be just the
change you need.

Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssrrrrrss.

Taking on the established Cola gi-
ants is a brash move for a little
company in Rochester, N.Y., and
Jolt is playing its role as spoiler to
the hilt. In the face of a huge tide
of “caffeine-free” soft drinks, Jolt

TABLE 3.

boasts that it has “all the sugar and
twice the caffeine.” On the surface,
at least, it seems as if the program-
mer’s ship has come in.

Jolt’s user interface is good, con-
taining the bite and “look and feel”
of Classic Coke and winning the
scouring test. Performance is stel-
lar with 32% more caffeine than
Mountain Dew, 55% more than
the Coke family, and a whopping
85% more than Pepsi. Unfortu-
nately, none of these percentages
back up the slogan aimed most di-
rectly at the programming market:
“twice the caffeine.”

While documentation is ade-
quate, technical support was rather
dismal. Jolt had the ambience of a
small company, with the reception-
ist answering my questions in an
annoyed manner. She said the
company doesn’t release informa-
tion on sugar content, which is odd
for a firm that boasts about it on
the can. When pressed about the
“twice the caffeine” claim, she said
it referred to sodas other than the
ones we tested but wouldn’t reveal
which ones.

Despite a shaky feeling about the
company’s ethics, programmers
will find much to like in a can of
Jolt. The only side effect may be
too much of a good thing—the
Grindstone test left me unable to

Additional rankings (1-10)
1—Excellent, 10—Poor

Classic
Coca-Cola
Compatibility with 2
UNIX programmers

Scouring effect
Wetstone!

Grindstone?

ANSI conformity?
Sleeve of Eratosthenes*

Notes
1. Thirst-quenching.

Coca-Cola

Diet Coke Mountain
Dew

6 3 1

2. Teeth grinding after one six-pack in a two-hour period.

3. American Neurological Speed Institute.

4. Staining power test-conducted on standard Beefy T-shirt.

bear the sight of a monitor, and
soon found me lurching from lane
to lane at 80 mph on Rte. 101, al-
ternately screeching at songs on the
radio and babbling incoherently to
myself about RISC chips. Use Jolt
with caution.

The Winners

A close look at the seven contend-
ers in this review confirmed some
suspicions and raised others. Pep-
si’s performance rated too poorly
to recommend, and Dr. Pepper’s
only real benefit is its unique user
interface.

Any member of the Coke family
can be recommended for general-
purpose long bouts of coding and
the company is to be lauded for
maintaining performance levels in
its newest releases. Jolt, the hands-
down winner in pure performance,
is too jarring to be recommended
for prolonged use, but can be ex-
cellent for short bursts or quick
patches. Based on overall excel-
lence, the winner and sultan of
swig for programmer productivity
is still Mountain Dew. E

Ted Babr is a frustrated writer who
wound up as publisher of Embedded
Systems Programming. He greatly
prefers iced lattes to any of the soft drinks
reviewed bere.

Jolt Pepsi Dr. Pepper

4 7 5

Porro rrrrrrrrPoncoecrsrprsrrosr.o..

-CAFFEINATED SOFT DRINKS 5:

ro.oonnnno.. ...o... Mrrrrrrrrrnsnrsnrorrrrrrrrnsnnnncnrnnnnr.n..

and has adequate documentation,
but finished at the bottom of the
heap in the Grindstone (teeth-
grinding after one six-pack slurped
down in a two-hour period), ANSI
(American Neurological Speed In-
stitute) conformity, and compati-
bility with UNIX programmers.
Although drinking Pepsi while
chained to a 100,000-line Ada pro-
gram for 36 hours will not make
you a raving maniac, it probably
won't keep you awake either. John
Sculley left for Apple years ago,
and we cannot recommend this
product for serious programmers.
New Coke

Coca-Cola’s new upstart is a wor-
thy alternative to sleeping at nor-
mal hours. It placed second in both
the scouring test and the Wetstone
(thirst-quenching). The kid brother

TABLE 1.

to Classic (real) Coke has a taste
somewhere between the thinner,
less-sweet Diet Coke and the heavy
syrup of the original. Despite its
less-sugary taste, Coke (its real
name) actually has more carbohy-
drates than Classic Coke, leading
this reviewer to wonder if the pro-
grammers who created New Coke
were drinking Pepsi while they
wrote the algorithms.

Coke’s performance matches its
siblings at 46 mg. of caffeine per
can, topping al! but the specialty
pops aimed directly at software de-
velopers. With three relatively
high-performance products to
choose from in the Coke family, a
programmer really can have it all.
Classic Coke
Also known as “real Coke,” this
product seems to be adrift in a sea

Comparison of basic features

Classic
Coca-Cola

Carbonated water
High-fructose

corn syrup/sugar
Caramel color
Phosphoric acid
Caffeine
Citric acid
Sodium benzoate

(“a preservative”)
Potassium benzoate
Natural flavorings

Proud sponsor of the
U.S. Olympic Team

All aluminium can

Toll-free help number

TABLE 2.

Performance ©

Classic
Coca-Cola
Calories (per 12 fl.oz.) 144
Sugar (grams/12 fl.oz.) 37.20
Caffeine (mg/12 fl.oz.) 46.00

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola Diet Coke

Diet Coke Mountain
Dew
Yes Yes

No Yes

No
No .
Yes
Yes
Yes

No
Yes
No

Mountain
Dew
154 0 179
40.00 .30 44.40
46.00 54.00

of specialized competition. Various
tests provided some pretty medio-
cre scores for what has traditionally
been considered by the general
public the most high-powered cold
liquid stimulant (unless you favor
cold espresso).

Documentation is thin for Clas-
sic Coke drinkers and thus tends to
favor users who have some famil-
iarity with the product. What’s
more, the toll-free help number
was not printed on any of the cans
we tested! While clearly a stalwart
and founding member of the caf-
feine collection, advantages offered
by a number of competitors may be
worth a taste before settling on the
real thing.

Dr. Pepper
While barely edging out Pepsi in
caffeine performance level and

Pepsi Dr. Pepper

Yes
Yes

THE ZX BREADBOARDER
PROJECT 2: THE DIGI-—DUBBER

DIGI-DUBBER
by Fred Rachbaer

March 1939

PARTS LIST
Ci - 228 pF. dise

C2 - 60 uf. dise
D1-03 - 104144 or 189148
Ri - @ ohas, 1/4 Hatt

R2,R3,R6 - 1608 ehas, 1/4 Hatt Use BIGI-ONBSER te make
R4 - 16 Koha, 174 Matt high quality duplicates
ot 713141

RS - 180 Loba, 174 Hatt

51 - SPOT slide or toggle

T1 - 568 cha CT te $ ohu audio
output traastorner

5190871515406

= support.
3 mini-jacks or plugs mith cable |MOAITOR jack eptienaL.

Pert-beard

THE AMAZING DIGI-DUBBER

I’m sure that the USUG finds ¡itself in a bit of a
predicament. I loaned my entire collection of 2X81
programs, pictures and other files. How would one
librarian make copies of well over 500 files,
without growing old before the project is
completed?

In these days after the gold rush, we all could
benefit from a quick and painiess way of making
copies of library tapes. There are several
options:

1) Use an attenuator cable (available from Radio
Shack) to copy from one deck to another.

2) Use a home stereo or "boom-box* double cassette
deck to make an audio dub.

3) Load each program into the computer, then save
it back to another tape.

Option #3 is by far the most reliable. The reason
is that audio dubs don’t really do justice to
digital signals. If you “scope the output of a
typical cassette deck, you'll find that the
amplitude of the pulse train is by no means
constant. This “sagging? effect becomes more
pronounced when making an audio copy. Furthermore,
drop-outs tend to be aggravated, often to the
point where the copy simoly doesn’t work.

What we need is an ‘attenuator cable* that
emuiates the Denavior of the comouter in
saving/loading tape signals. DIGI-DUBBER does
exactly that. The signal on copy made using
DIGI-DUBBER ıs indistinguisnabie from a signal
generated dy the 2X81 directly.

Figure 1 snows the schematic diagram of
DIGI-OUBBER. Here's row it works.

Resistor RI limits the current into the input
transtormer, T1, and makes the input to
DIGI-DUBBER look mostly resistive Comitting it
Caused Dizarre spurious responses, presumably

tapes. Hire it ep ena

Transformer Ti does several things. Most
importantly, it isolates the two cassette decks,
avoiding any possibility of ‘ground loop‘
problems. It also boosts the signal voltage,
helping to insure that we can process the analog
Signal into a good approximation of a (digital)
square wave. Further, its limited frequency
response is used to advantage, to help prevent
both low-frequency and high-frequency noise from
reaching the recording deck.

The signal from Ti is then half-wave rectified
using diode DI and resistor R2 (or D2 and R3). The
use of a rectifier on both halves of Ti’s
secondary Keeps its current (and therefore the
current reflected back into the primary)
symmetrical, reducing distortion due to
non-linearity. Switch Si selects the “input
phase;* in otherwords, whether we're selecting the
positive or negative excursions of the signal.

The reason for this switch is that most decks will
falsely give an extra pulse in each pulse-train in
one phase (usually but not always the negative
phase). This corruption leads to later difficulty
in loading. I’11 describe later how you determine
the proper setting for your decks.

The rectified signal is then clipped by resistor
R4 and diode D3. Across D3 we now have a
constant-amplitude square wave (or reasonable
fascimile thereof).

Finally, capacitors Ci and C2 and resistors RS and
Ró provide a two-pole filter that matches the
transfer characteristic of the similar network in
the 2X81’s SAVE circuitry. Going to the dubbing
deck we thereby have a signal that "looks* as if
it were being sent by a stock 2X81.

Note that DIGI-DUBBER is completely passive; it
does not need a source of DC power, as did my
earlier “Load conditioner* designs.

BUILDING DIGI-DUBBER

Construction is straightforward. I built mine on a
piece of perf-board. Transformer Til is readily
available from Radio Shack and elsewhere. It is a
500 ohm (center-tapped) to 8 ohm “transistor auaio
output transformer," used in reverse. I used a
sub-mini version rated at 0.1 watt, but just about
any size should work fine.

The diodes are the ubiquitous 1N9144/1N4148 giass
silicon types. Radio Shack selis them at 50 “or 53
(this ts even better than the prices at most
wnolesaie joobers). The resistors and capacitors
are similariy ‘garaen variety.‘

Switch Si can be virtually any Kind of SPOT
switch. I used a pusn-putton switch Salvaged from
a “dead body" in the junk room of the stereo snop
where I work.

Note that the “MONITOR” cable is simply an
extension of the INPUT cable. This is so that you
can simultaneousiy load the program, or use a
*header-reader* program like PNR to make a listing

USING DIGI-DUBBER

DIGI-DUBBER is intended for copying tapes. It is
not meant as a load-conditioner or a Panacea for
lousy tapes. However, if the original tape loads
normally into a stock computer, DIGI-DUBBER will
insure that the copy will also.

Connect the INPUT plug to the EAR jack of the
Source recorder. Connect the OUTPUT plug to the
MIC jack of the deck being used to record the
copy. Optionally, connect the MONITOR jack to a
stock 2K TS1000 (running PNR) to get a listing of
program names and save/load times.

Set the playback deck’s volume to about the same
level as you normally use to load tapes. When
using DIGI-QUBBER, it is better to err in the
direction of less signal. I found settings between
S and 7 (on a JIL JT1115) to be ideal. Too much
clipping (i.e. high volume settings) may
Compromise the integrity of the copy by generating
Spurious pulses,

Start the playback deck with the source tape, and
the recording deck with an object tape of the same
or greater length. And away you go.

The first time you use DIGI-DUBBER, you will have
to determine which of the two switch positions are
appropriate for your setup. The best way to do
this is with an oscilloscope. First make an
original tape from a stock 2X81. SAVE a large
blank array; e.g. DIM AS(12000), then SAVE
“ARRAY*. This will give a large section of tape
with only 0’s on it, making it easier to see on
the scope.

Connect the ‘scooe’s input across diode 03. Play
back the portion of the tape with the
steady-sounding array data, and adjust the scope‘’s
vertical gain and horizontal frequency for a
steady image.

Experiment with the switch in

1 REM 136 SPACES aesszeeeeeae
RBRRERRRRERERRRRRAREBREREREREAE
IBBBBRRRRARRRRRERERARREREERERES

both positions. On

most decks, you’ll find that in one position you
will get four pulses in each pulse train, with a
level that is largely independent of the input
level. This is the correct setting. In the other
position, you'll count five pulses per train, or
you will count four pulses over only a Narrow
volume range.

If you don’t have a scope, set up the system as
described above and connect an earphone to the EAR
jack of the recording deck. Put the recording deck
into RECORD mode, and play a tape on the playback
deck. Flip the switch while listening to the
signal. In one position, the signal will seem
louder and may appear to have a‘lower pitch; this
is the WRONG position. In the other position, the
signal will seem clearer but a little quieter;
this is the PROPER position. Make note of this
position.

Setting the optimum playback level can also be
done using the earphone-moni tor approach (or by
turning the monitor switch ON on a deck that
allows monitoring through the speaker). As you
increase the volume from Zero, there will be a
relatively large range (typically from about 4 to
7) over which the signal sounds essentially the
same. Beyond this, it will sound noticable
“harsher,* due to Clipping. Again, you could use a
scope for a more scientific approach. Just below
the point where this clipping starts is the ¡deal
setting. Your recordings at this setting will be
undistorted, and relatively immune to dropouts.

One final note: when copying library tapes, or any
tape for that matter, be careful with head azimuth
alignment. Align the recording deck toa standard
test tape, or failing that, to a GOOD QUALITY
pre-recorded audio tape. The noisier, the better;
heavy-metal is great for setting azimuth because
of all the high-frequency noise.

Adjust the playback deck’s head to the tape being
copied. It is therefore good practise to always
use the same decks for play and record; the record
deck’s azimuth alignment will be “known good,” and
the playback deck’s setting will *slop* as
required to match the source tape.

PROGRAM NAME READER
Prints name and loading time of 2X81 files
POKE data table into 1 REM

229:205:136:064:024:251:014:001:
006 :000:062:127:219:254:211:255:

RRRRARAL AREA AAA AAA 135 60SUB 300
031 :048:073:023:023:056:040:016:
ppp 140 GOTO 28 241:241:186:210:229:003:098:107:
SAEN A SA a = "PNR" 205:136:064:203:122:121:032:003:
3 E 205:228:064:035:023:048:241:201:
a e da 202 PRINT * — PROGRAM NAME READ 052:021:033:009:044:080:205:136:
ER, VI" EHER start tape +4 064:113:205:252:001 :024:246:213:
ri a aaa rs 030:148:006:026:029:219:254:023:
p = À 203 IF USR 16618(2 THEN GOTO 20 li AA
ET T= 3 ¿09:123:123:006:243:014:245:209;
pe rin 205 5OSUB 300 read O
100 219 PRINT © "TAR 34 31/:048:123:201:201:167:040:187:
55 LET T=T51 o PROGRAM NAME" ;TAB 26 207:012:245:230:043:215:241:201;
30 30T0 50 "312 ON 001:000:000:017:000:016:027:122:
100 LET S=72.4114 25 0 A6 179:200:219:254:007:048:247:003:
110 LET MINT (5/60) pc 027:122:179:200:219:254:007:056:
120 LET S=INT (5-401) 300 SCROLL 247:024:235:000:000:000:000:000:

130 PRINT TAB 25+(M<10) ¡M3 *:*;«
“9" AND 5(10);5 320 RETURN

310 PRINT AT 21,31;* "AT 21,0;

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+ 43 w am ta p H SH i) Hp RoR Vos
ko apa = aah z on E " Ma Lo Lago
Hb. 5] 4 [us] w = Ft E Rh Le") a ei gf d d Ry nay
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Words Are Hidden In EIGHT

THEN LPEINT : LP

n

åre Hidden In. EIGHT.

THEN PEINT =="
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THEN LPRINT : LP
, DIAGONAL,

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HEN PEINT : POK
THEN LPEINT

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IF A$(>"1" THEN LPEINT W#ir
GO TO 9978 i
PEINT

IF ASC>"1"
PRINT : PE

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un

INT “RETUENE To M

O A hoo

ta

AS

1100 LET ADD=450900

1200 LET A1=ADD+77: LET Bi=A1+3:
LET A2=INT (A1/256): LET A1=A1-—
256*A2: LET B2=INT (B1/256): LET
Bi=B1-256*B2: RESTORE 1800: FOR
F=ADD TO ADD+106: READ A:. POKE

F,A: NEXT F: RETURN i

9080 REM SAVE PROGRAM

7010 SAVE "CORRECTOR" LINE 100

- change ADD for any reasonable address
(32768-65400)
Y minimum!

BOO COOK EOK

e
K

AEEA AEA AOK

11

TAPE CORRECTOR
by Kristian Boisvert

This is a tape reconditioner. I know there are
quite a few around but this one is different - it
works! I received some PD software from a friend
and had an awful time trying to load the programs
so I decided to work on the problem. I think I've
found the solution.

Just type in the program and then RUN 9999 to
save. To use you must have 2 tape recorders. One
will "play" in the EAR of the computer and the
other will record from the MIC. This program
even works on programs saved in Fast Save
(2+FAST, Turboloader)!

@>REM
TAPE CORRECTOR
WRITTEN BY KRISTIAN BOISVERT
COPYRIGHT 1988 BYTE POWER

100 GO SUB 10920

200 CLS = PRINT *’?TAB 93"TAPE C
ORRECTOR"’’ TAB 23"WRITTEN BY KRI
STIAN BOISVERT"3TAB 83CHR$ 1275"

1988 BYTE POWER"

300 PRINT AT 10,05” INSERT ORIGI
NAL TAPE IN TAPE"? “RECORDER 1 (E
AR)" .

400 PRINT ”"INSERT BACKUP TAPE
IN TAPE”” “RECORDER 2 (MIC) THEN
PRESS“? "RECORD..."

500 PRINT *"PLAY TAPE RECORDER
1 THEN PRESS ANY KEY...”

600 PAUSE Ø: PRINT AT 10107731»
1137773737)73137937>
708 PRINT AT 12,43"RECONDITIONI
NG SIGNAL...”
809 PRINT AT
* TO STOP..."
922 RANDOMIZE USR ADD
1008 DATA 243,58, 141,92, 245,238,
7187, 241,230,564, 31,31,31,198,8,9
5,205,B1,B2,33,21,4,16,254,43,12
45181, 325249, 205,A1,A25 6,156, 205
141,42,62,198, 184, 48, 230, 34, 32,2
431 6,201,205, B1, B2, 120,254, 212,4
8, 246, 205,B1,B2, 48,193,6, 176, 205
1A1,A2, 48, 186,62,203,184,6,176,4
8,244,24,240,205,B1,B2,4,200, 62,
127,219,254, 31,48, 15,169, 230, 32,
40,242,121,47,79,122,83,95,211,2
54,55,201,251,207,20

18,45"PRESS ? BREAK

APPLE SUES APPLE

Apple Corps Ltd., owned by the three surviv-
ing members of The Beatles and John Len-
non’s estate, is suing Apple Computer Inc. of
Cupertino, Calif., over alleged misuse of
trademarks.

The dispute centres on a 1981 agreement
between the two companies specifying which
products could carry their respective Apple
trademarks. Apple Computer agreed not to
use the name “Apple” and its logo “in rela-
tion to apparatus specifically designed and
intended for synthesizing music,” or on any
related printed matter, software or services.

Apple Corps contends that Apple Com-
puter has marketed and licensed several such
products, including Macintosh micros and
an Apple compact disk player. It wants the
U.S. company to remove the music com-
ponent, or change the name and logo used.

z>mno a-17- OFT

The Vancouver Sinclair Users Group has been in existence since
1982. We are a support group for the owners and users of all
SINCLAIR and TIMEX computers.

Pres:- Gerd Breunung PH#(604) 931-5509
V/Pres:- Glenn Read .

Sec:- Harvey Taylor

Treas. & N/L Editor:- Rod Humphreys
N/L Publisher:- Rusty Townsend

Our membership dues are only $15.00/year and may be sent to the
Treasurer:

Rod Humphreys
2006 Highview Place
Port Moody, B.C., V3H 1N5

Members of VSUG receive a monthly issue of ZXAppeal - our
newsletter.

ZXAppeal accepts advertising. Our **PREPAID** rates are:

$10.00 — full page
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ZXAppeal is distributed to approx 30 other T/Sinclair User Groups
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NETWORK correspondence may be directed to the Editor at the
above address. ]

Copyright of all articles appearing in ZXAppeal is retained by the
author with the understanding that other T/S User Groups may
reprint any article appearing in ZXAppeal provided credit is given to
the author and VSUG.